Scintillating sign and method and means for assembling same



Nov. 17, 1959 A.F. BATTAGLlA 2,912,773

"SCINTILLATING SIGN AND METHQD MEANS FOR ASSEMBLING SAME Filed May 7, 1956 INVENTOR ANGELO E B TTAGL/A ATTORNEY United States Patent SCINTILLATING SIGN AND METHOD MEANS FOR ASSEMBLING SAME Angelo F. Battaglia, Philadelphia, Pa'.

Application May 7, 1956, Serial No. 583,124

1 Claim. (Cl. 40-138 scintillating sign and a method and means for its assembly.

' The principal object of this invention is to provide a scintillating sign comprising a plurality of pendants supported on a backing and arranged in such a manner that so long as they are freely rotatable by positioning the support therefor in a substantially vertical position the pendants cannot become entangled and will always function in the manner intended.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method and mechanism for facilitating the assembly of the scintillating pendants with their support surface in any position desired by the one performing the assembly operation.

Still another object of the invention is to provide in the assembly a means by which the pendants will have a predeterminate and limited degree of movement laterally of the supporting element.

A still further object of the invention is to provide .a pronged device capable of properly spacing a plurality of indentations in a support element preparatory to nailing the pendants to their support in any desired relation with such indentations providing a guide or pattern.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from an examination of the accompanying drawing illustrating the invention.

In the several figures of such drawing in which like parts are similarly designated,

,Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a capital A provided with a plurality of pendants;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of several pendants secured to a backing element;

Fig. 3 is a section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an edge view of a pendant and its supporting means;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged view of the longitudinally split sleeve clearly showing the opening in its wall;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the holder block which is used for positioning the split sleeves in the assembly operation;

Fig. 7 is a horizontal section of a modified form of holder block with the elements in assembled position;

Fig. 8 is a perspective and sectional view of a form of spacer element for use in the assembly operation;

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the pronged punch used in the assembly operation; and

Fig. 10 is an end view of the punch with parts in section.

With reference to the drawing, in the perspective view, Fig. 1, the Arabic capital A is shown provided with a plurality of rows of scintillating pendants 10. In Fig. 2 is shown an enlargement of a series of pendants 10 on the surface of each of which is visible the head of a pin-like element or nail 11 used to secure the pendants to the supporting surface or backing element 12. The shank of the nail 11, as indicated at 13, and as best shown in the edge view, Fig. 4, is provided with a bushing or longitudinally split sleeve 14. The split portion of the sleeve 14 converges slightly from the top of the sleeve, indicated V to the bottom thereof indicated D. One of the most important elements of the organization comprising the scintillating pendants are the split sleeves and their converging wall arrangement. It will be noted that the end of the nail 13 has been provided with a conventional sheet metal nut 13 The importance of the sleeves will become apparent from the description hereinafter.

Figs. 6, 7 and 8 illustrate the assembly mechanism by means of which the pendants are predeterminately positioned relative to the supporting surface. I

Fig. 6 discloses a bushing or split sleeve holder block 15 that is divided longitudinally into two halves A and B, the abutting facesof which are provided with'complcmental semicircular channels which, when the two'halves are abutted at their line of cleavage will-provide bores that are adapted to receive therein the split sleeves or bushings 14 in the assembly operation. Any suitable means, such as pins 16-17 may be provided for aligning the elements A and B before positioning bushings in the bores in preparation for assembly of the pendants. A pendant and its securing means are shown in this view in a position preparatory to the assembly operation.

With reference to Fig. 7, it will be obvious that the pinlike element or nail 11 has been driven down until the lower face thereof has come into abutting contact with the disc or pendant. It will be apparent that the nails 11 must be driven with care otherwise the face of the pendant will become dented or damaged and its beauty thereby marred. As clearly shown in Fig. 7, the holder 15 is of such a height that when the bushings are dropped into position in the bores formed by the channels of the abutting faces of the holder 15 the bottom of said bushing rests on the backing surface and sufficient space is provided thereabove below the outer surface of the holder that a predetermined amount of movement of the pendant between the upper portion of the bushing and the lower face of the nailhead will be provided when it is secured to said backing by the nail and the assembly thus completed and the holder block removed.

In Fig. 8 another embodiment of a separable holder 15' is shown. The parts are otherwise similar to the holder shown in Fig. 6, except for the height thereof and will be discussed no further than to indicate that the height of said holder 15 is substantially the equivalent of that of the split bushing. Obviously,.in this mode of assembling the parts, some means will be required to space the bushing from the pendant and this is here shown as a bifurcated tool element 18 provided with a handle 19.

Of course, it will readily be understood that, although this bifurcated element, as shown, may be used to assemble only one pendant at a time, a rectangular strip could be provided which has a plurality of slots to provide offstanding spaced bifurcations that could accommodate a series of nails so that assembly of a greater number of discs would be limited only to the hammering of each individual nail after it is passed through a disc and arranged in the bushing.

Fig. 9 shows an inverted L-shaped jig element or pronged punch 20 to be utilized in predeterminate spacing of nail holes and provided with a plurality of depending needle-like prongs 21 the upper portions of which are securely held against movement by means of any suitable screws, indicated at 22 which are passed through apertures 23 in a rectangular clamp block or rail 24. It will be readily understood that the L-shaped element 20 may be of varying lengths depending entirely on the number of apertures it is desired to provide in the backing surface preparatory to assembling the discs, nails and split sleeves.

In lieu of the nail 13 having the usual cylindrical shank 11, as shown in Fig. 3, its shank may comprise a series of annular rings and a nylon or other plastic sleeve may be thereafter substituted for the split sleeve 14- (Fig. 5). The annular rings would prevent longitudinal movement of the modified sleeve and the pendant would have the requisite freedom of movement.

It is also considered to be within the scope of this invention that screws or rivets can be substituted for it e conventional nail or the modified nail having the annular rings referred to above.

Within the scope of the present disclosure it is contemplated that various color effects may be obtained by painting or enameling the pendants. Obviously, the painting or enameling could be achieved in any manner desired; for example, by dipping, spraying or brushing the pendants. Moreover, in Fig. 6, there is shown a modified type of pendant 10' which has been radially striated to increase the refiectibility of the surface thereof.

Various changes and modifications are considered to be within the principle of the invention and the scope of the following claim.

What I claim is:

In a scintillating assembly mounted on a panel and forming a scintillating sign comprising, a thin reflective metallic disc having an opening near the periphery thereof, a resilient sleeve having an opening therethrough being large at one end and small at the other, said resilient sleeve having a slit extending along the length of the sleeve from one end to the other, a driving means having a diameter substantially the same as the diameter of the large opening of the sleeve and smaller than the diameter of the opening through the metallic disc, said driving means having an enlarged head of greater diameter than the diameter of the opening through the metallic disc, said driving means extending successively through the opening of the metallic disc, through the large opening and the small opening of the resilient sleeve for mounting the assembly onto a panel, said resilient sleeve thereby gripping the driving means to provide free-move ment of the metallic disc so that there is scintillation.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 770,931 Scary et a1 Sept. 27, 1904 1,028,842 Marshall June 4, 1912 1,301,275 Kraehmer Apr. 22, 1919 2,147,800 Sadowski Jan. 8, 1937 2,795,070 Touche June 11, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 4,896 Great Britain Feb. 25, 1914 11,906 Great Britain May 24, 1902 29,527 Austria Mar. 15, 1907 

